What I Gave This Year, Part Two

Originally this was going to be a three part piece, but I have decided that it isn't really needful. The edible part of my gifts were fudge, of both the vegan and non-vegan variety. You'll be getting both recipes today. Both were found on Pinterest, aka my new favourite place for recipes and all things fun. (Seriously, I have sent my sister so many crochet squid hats, you wouldn't have thought there were that many!)

My unofficial new year's resolution is to make more things. I say "unofficial" because I did not need January 1st to start this and was already doing it towards the end of 2018. What I am going to do is blog more about it. I want to get crafty and my bake on; all as a means of reducing my plastic intake and living sustainably. It's going to be a steep learning curve, and probably a lot of my brain going, "jsbdfekjbwrgouh." Are you ready for this? 😂😂

But back to Christmas.

Fudge and bath bombs, packaged and ready for Santa to deliver.

I was originally just going to make the bath bombs, but it felt a little lack luster. Food is my go-to "not sure what to get you" gift, so I rolled with it. I have made fudge before - as a 15 year old in GCSE Food Tech. It got banned the following week, because the teacher did not want anyone else using a sugar thermometer. I like to leave a lasting impression.

Thanks to the internet, I was able to find not one but two recipes which did not require heating sugar to ridiculously high temperatures. And one was vegan. Bonus. I made Nutella fudge and vegan chocolate fudge. Both went down a treat, and my mum has been begging for the vegan recipe so I guess it's about time I shared! Links to original recipes in the titles.

Salted chocolate fudge, ready to be divvied up.

Salted Chocolate Vegan Fudge

This was delightfully easy to make. However, fair warning, one ingredient was very hard to find. The sweetened condensed coconut milk. I now know that you can get them from Chinese supermarkets, I got mine from my aunt's cupboard (thank you, Wendy!). Yes, I then gave her some of the fudge I made with it.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of sweetened condensed coconut milk
• 2 cups of vegan dark chocolate
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• Sprinkling of sea salt

Method:

1. Line a tray, loaf pan, suitable fudge receptacle with parchment paper. I used just a bog standard baking tray and my reusable baking sheet. (Well, I would have. I was making industrial amounts of fudge and had more trays than sheets. So I had to resort to cling film as I had nothing else. Sorry, planet!)
2. Half fill a small pan with water and place a large, heat safe bowl over the top.
3. Put the condensed milk, coconut oil and chocolate in the bowl. (I did not do this over the hob!) Add a pinch of salt.
4. Put over a low heat, stir continuously until they all melt together.
5. Use an oven mitt, pour the mix into your prepared tray. Use a spatula to scrape out those last drops and smooth it over.
6. Sprinkle a touch more salt over the top.
7. Place in the freezer for an hour to set. Rather conveniently, my tray fit nicely into my ice tray!
8. Cut into as big or as small a size square as you want. It can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 weeks or 2 months in the freezer. I think everyone's lasted about a day!

Despite having two out of three ingredients made from coconut, it really was not coconut heavy in flavour. I do not like coconut at all, but still found myself picking at the off cuts with greed. I would definitely keep refrigerated, it becomes a gooey, melty mess very quickly!

Nutella fudge, chopped into even(ish) squares.

Nutella Fudge

This made the gooey-est, fudge-iest fudge ever. It was a little more difficult to make, but probably because I had to double up the ingredients to make enough for everyone. The icing sugar didn't quite bind enough, but it was also nearly over-flowing out of the bowl so I had that going against me. Still, everyone enjoyed this round of fudge too. So I guess I did all right on the presents all round.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of condensed milk
• 300g milk chocolate, chopped
• 300g Nutella
• 25g butter
• 125g icing sugar, sifted

The recipe says you can add chopped Ferrero Rocher or Kinder Bueno as a topping. I chose not to, as to not over complicate things.

Method:

1. Line a tray. Again, I just used a baking tray and my reusable sheets.
2. Place into a heavy based pan the chocolate, condensed milk, Nutella, and the butter. Melt on a low heat, stirring often to avoid sticking and burning.
3. Between stirs, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl.
4. Once melted, pour the melted mix into the icing sugar bowl. Mix well. It takes some elbow grease to combine it properly. I think this is where my downfall was, but the only effect was a fine layer of cooled sugar in places on the fudge.
5. Pour into the lined tin and smooth over. Add your topping if you have chosen to go full decadent.
6. Store in the fridge for at least 4-5 hours, preferably over night. I left mine for 4-5 hours and it had set fine.
7. Cut into as small or as big a square as you'd like. If they are still very soft, place back in the fridge.

Again, they last up to two weeks in the fridge or two months in the freezer. If they don't get gobbled within minutes of setting. (Or being gifted.) 

I am hoping to start my new schedule next Tuesday. You get one more random post before I go back to being an organised grown-up.